When producing assets in a team, how often do we designers end up having disorganised assets in several places? Also not knowing who did what edit to a file? Tools like Zeplin or InVison are limited to commenting on the screens of the design. It doesn’t allow your team to make changes or suggestions in the design.

How versioning can help

A common solution is to keep a “master file”, and manually merge the team’s respective files manually. There is a solution to make this task easier by using a versioning software for every project. This helps save time and not cause any confusion in the team and everyone knows what they are working on.

Why Versions by Sympli

versions.sympli.io

Although there are other softwares that work with Sketch for version control like Plant, Kactus and Abstract. Versions by Sympli is free to use and secure. It’s simple to use and you can have multiple projects.

How we use it

Versions is easy to understand thanks to the dashboard. You can either use the web app or the desktop app.

Firstly you sign in and then create a project, with the integration directly with macOS finder, a window will open where you can copy the sketch file this will be the main master file.

There are a few basic functions of Versions:

• Sync
• Pull
• Merge
• New branch
• Use branch

Using Versions has made our lives easier. There is one master file from which branches are pulled and then worked on. We create branches on which the changes or designs are added.

Once the work is done the branch is synced on Versions, you cannot sync the files without adding a comment which I feel is a good thing, so this helps to keep transparency on what work is done on the files. We have a specific way on how the comments are added which helps, you can either use this or come up with something that helps your team.

[Change/Redesign/New design/Asset]-[Artboard/Screen name]-[Work done]-Requirement/comment by [Name]

When merging the files, Versions helps you inspect all the changes and gives you full control over what goes in the master file. It also shows who has done what changes and when it’s done. It also shows individual conflicts between the master and the branch file, and you can select which file should be used to resolve it. Now the master file is up-to-date with all the new designs and changes. This saves a ton of time and keeps the workflow streamlined.

The dashboard keeps everyone working on the project updated with all the changes and what work is been done on the file. Access to the projects are by invite only and only the admin can send invites so you get full control over who has access to the project. Versions is secure so there is no need to worry about your files on the server.

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